


Glint

by Angelwingsl3 (Marie_Fanwriter)



Series: Macen & Avitus [11]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Affection, Fix-it fic, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post-Game, andromeda - Freeform, everyone lives au, happy endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 20:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17230769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie_Fanwriter/pseuds/Angelwingsl3
Summary: Summary:With news of the long-lost Keelah Si’yah entering the Andromeda galaxy, a glimmer of hope spread through the Nexus.Timeline:2820, a few months after the Initiative settled into Andromeda.





	Glint

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> I hope this hits enough of your 'likes!'
> 
> Beta reader to be posted after anon reveals.

\- - -

_ Gunshots were going off around him. Avitus could hear turian voices screaming for help. Try as he might, the clasps wouldn’t open. No matter how hard he kicked and beat against the glass, his pod wouldn’t open. Panic set in, he needed to get out. _

_ They needed him, Macen could be out there!  _

_ It didn’t matter that the ex-Spectre’s talons were bloody inside his gloves or that he felt like he’d fallen off a cliff. He needed to get out. In a last-ditch effort, Avitus managed to roll halfway onto his side and shove all of his weight against the containment glass. It gave, finally, and set him loose into the middle of a battlefield. _

_ Scanning the area, he caught sight of a grenade flying through the air- _

An eardrum-shattering _ ping  _ snapped Avitus awake. In one smooth motion, he went from comfortably cocooned in Macen’s arms, to on his feet with his pistol in hand. His heart slammed against the inside of his chest; adrenaline flooded his system. Aiming at where the attack was most likely to spring from, he rapidly surveyed the room on instinct just as he’d done on Havarl.

But there was no one there. 

He was in standing naked in his apartment on the Nexus.

Blinking a few times, Avitus slowly lowered the unneeded sidearm just as the priority omnitool ping sounded a second time. With a heavy sigh, the ex-Spectre thumbed the safety back on and went to set the gun back on the side table. He leaned there for a moment, fingers settled overtop the chrome weapon as if putting it back to rest, assuring himself that there was no need. It was just… just a ping. Only a message notification. No grenade. No Roekaar.

Macen pulled him from the faltering exercise of self-reassurance with a comforting rumble from behind him, a soothing vibration that drained the tension in his shoulders. Avitus let go of the pistol, sitting down heavily on the edge of the bed to catch his breath.

Behind him, the bed shifted as Macen raised himself. After a moment, Avitus felt Macen’s arms settle in around his waist, and his mate nosed into his neck. No doubt he’d feel the stickiness of sweat pooled along the inside of his cowl, but he didn’t seem to care. Macen purred reassurances and waited for his heartbeat to slow down.

_ Spirits, the past needed to stop haunting them. _

Avitus pressed into the contact, but barely took a minute of comfort before dutifully checking his ‘tool. Whatever the message was, it must have been important to set off the priority notification.

Tapping a talon against the screen, Avitus opened the message system. He felt ridiculous for springing into action like that, but he’d only gotten Macen back a few weeks ago. He wasn't about to lose him now, not to carelessness. Better he was a little… jumpy, then too slow.

The queued messaged proved to be entirely worth the wake-up.

_ // _

_ From: [ Nexus Command] _

_ To: [Senior staff, Pathfinders] _

_ Subject: [Emergency Broadcast] _

_ Ark Keelah Si’yah has arrived in Andromeda. An emergency meeting of all senior staff and Pathfinders is scheduled for 0600 in Director Tann’s office.  _

_ // _

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Macen huffed from behind him.

Avitus re-read the message before glancing over his shoulder at his partner. Macen’s mandibles pulled into the biggest grin, and his eyes were alight with something like wonder. His expression dispelled the heavy mood like a stiff summer breeze.

The ex-Spectre had to shake his head to pull out of the daze Macen’s delight caused. He could still hardly believe his mate was alive and with him, let alone that the Quarian ark was suddenly appearing, months after the rest.

“Sounds like we’re going to have a lot more guests,” Avitus said as he leaned back into the younger turian’s touch. Macen’s hand smoothed across his back in a gesture of reassurance, and he nuzzled into his shoulder.

“Things are finally starting to look up, Avi.”

Avitus turned into the touches, pulling him in tightly against his chest as he laid back down on their bed. He was awake now and the meeting in just over an hour, but he couldn't bring himself to care right away. Right now, he just needed Macen’s weight against him and to remember that this was real. They were home. “You don’t even know the half of it, Macen.”

\- - -

The news travelled like wildfire. From the heart of the Nexus outward through the newly established wards, the security offices, and the science labs. Absolutely everyone knew within hours of the first confirmed sightings. The Quarian Ark had come into comm range.

With it being set to reach the Nexus in just a handful of hours, arrangements were in full swing. The Keelah Si'yah was the first Ark to arrive in proper fashion, at least from the Nexus’ point of view, and a celebration was quickly coming together.

Avitus stood on a ladder in the Pathfinder’s offices, fastening another glittering strand of paper to the wall. The senior staff would enjoy a welcome here and an escape from the bustle of the crowds outside. By the sound of it, everyone on the Nexus was going to gather for the party in the docking bay. He knew if it had been him, he’d want to slip out as soon as practical.

At Macen’s behest, he’d been helping to decorate the office. It… wasn’t precisely Avitus’ forte but he managed well enough with his mate’s direction. Macen was managing to walk for short periods with a cane, but the majority of the time outside the apartment he used a wheelchair. Weeks of being stranded and injured made his recovery slow, and the muscle in his legs had atrophied to twigs. Physical therapy was going well though, and in another two weeks, the doctors said he’d be able to lose the chair.

Until then, Avitus would continue to dote on his every whim. Sometimes, like today with the excessive streamers and expandable rubber things the humans called balloons, he thought Macen was enjoying the doting a little _ too much _ . Not that he’d complain. Not when he had Macen back.  _ Spirits, _ he had missed him.

Stepping down off the stool, Avitus widened out his arms in a sort of ‘ _ what do you think’ _ gesture.

“It’s perfect,” Macen said. “I think Talem is going to love it!”

Avitus’ left mandible quirked to the side as he wandered over to Macen’s chair and rested his weight into the armrests. He sincerely doubted the quarian Pathfinder would care, but he still said: “He’ll appreciate the gesture, at least.”

“You’re probably right.” Macen tilted his crest up to press against Avitus’, which he accepted readily. “Maybe the quiet space will be good for him. You two did prefer to hang back, out of the limelight.”

Pulling back slightly, Avitus smiled down at his partner. “Andromeda is supposed to help with that, Mace. Remember?”

“I mean… this is our first party.”

“Second,” Avitus corrected, nuzzling back in for a moment. Behind him, a small pop noise preceded the streamer fluttering down from the ceiling. He looked back over his shoulder and sighed.

Macen chuckled and wrapped his arms around the back of Avitus’ shoulders, pulling him back to touch their crests together again. “Second,” he agreed.

Avitus never really realized how much he missed the simple action of pressing his crest against Macen’s until he had to go without it for months, with no promise of it ever happening again. His talons tightened around the armrests of the wheelchair. Macen seemed to understand and didn’t pull away. Maybe he felt it too.

When he was ready, Avitus pulled away intent on getting the decorations right. At the very least the final ark’s arrival needed to be a happy one. The rest had been so fraught with destruction and pain; it made sense that Tann and the rest of the administrators had been overjoyed to pronounce ‘Arrival Day’ as Andromeda’s first holiday.

\- - -

**Author's Note:**

> -VV


End file.
